EVERYONE Has Read This but Me - The Catch-Up Book Club discussion

Searching for genuine insight on if this book is worth the read since it’s such a classic. Thoughts?

It is a good read. I think the problem you can find is that with it being a success, like with a lot of Jane Austen's works, everybody decided to follow the leader. It can look a bit derivative because it has been adapted, paid homage, retold, parodied and copied since it hit print.

I think I had that problem but with Little Woman. I saw way too many movie adaptations first.

I love it and definitly think it is worth the read. Not only is it a great book, but Jane Austen really developed the modern novel. Free indirect recourse, where we know what a character is thinking, is credited to her.

Absolutely! But only if its your thing. I'd recommend trialling it by reading some of it on Gutenberg (just noticed its a nice illustrated edition!).

The good thing is its short chapters so easy to whiz through, and the character and the plotline are great.

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." start there and you may never stop! What a first line!

Thanks a lot for the opinions! I just got my hands on a beautiful hard book copy of it I’ll be reading it soon <3

Let us know what you think :D

Well, it's a book that has never gone out of print in its 200+ year history. That alone is an accomplishment. I'd seen so many movie versions of the book, I decided to give it a try.

It was an out-of-the-box read for me, and though I did like the character of Fitzwater Darcy, I don't have a hankerin to read anything else by Austen. But I've been told that P&P is not her best book.

It is my favorite of her books. If you ever want to try another, let us know what you did and did not like, and we can make suggestions on the next Austen for you.

Squire wrote: "...I don't have a hankering to read anything else by Austen. But I've been told that P&P is not her best book"

I particularly enjoy the BBC version of this and did enjoy the actual book when I eventually read it. I think austen's characters and the story are sturdy enough to allow for all the various adaptations. And for a book that over 150 years old, that says a lot. You might also try Sense and Sensibility These two really do describe the era and are compelling enough to still be enjoyable today.

I enjoyed this book from Jane Austen, of course after watching the movie your expectations are very high, but I liked finding differences between the book and the movie, and then when I watched the BBC adaptation it was once again lovely to see how much more similar to the book it was and which little details were different from the so famous movie.

I recommend it! The pace is good, the characters have big personalities and to me it felt like there was more insight in the conversations portrayed :)

I just finished reading it today. In my opinion, it's more than worth it. I adored it.

I loved the book a lot. To me it's one of her top novels. I have a British literature degree and didn't read anything by this author until I was pleasure reading post uni and was pleasantly surprised. To me, this one and Emma are the best.

It's definitely worth reading at least once, especially if you already enjoy either classics or comedy. This book mixes the two together in a delightful way, and catches the attention of most readers by a few chapters in. Jane Austen books feel more readable than other classics mainly because of its unique wording of that era.
I would love to know what you thought of the book if you decided to read it in the end.

˗ˏˋAury´ˎ˗ wrote: "Searching for genuine insight on if this book is worth the read since it’s such a classic. Thoughts?"

I am currently reading this. I'm using the "A Penguin Enhanced e-Book Classic" because it was what my library had. I'm grateful for this edition. It includes notes and definitions for words/phrases that are used differently today. That said, the Original Penguin Classics Introduction by Tony Tanner is littered with spoilers, so read that afterward (which is what Penguin encourages).

This is one of those classics that has entire books written about it, so you have a lot of resources to lean on if you need them. There are also multiple modern-day novels/movies that are based on this book, including Bridget Jones's Diary.